Plan B One-Step (levonorgestrel) tablet, one of the brands known as the "morning-after pill." Photo: AP

In a controversial birth control case pitting a New York City advocacy group against the Obama administration, a federal judge today issued a sweeping decision that will allow girls 16 and under to obtain emergency, so-called Plan B, contraceptives without a prescription.

Brooklyn federal Judge Edward Korman ordered the US Food and Drug Administration to jettison its current policies and make such emergency contraception available to young women as an over-the-counter, unrestricted drug “without point-of-sale or age restrictions” within 30 days.

A New York advocacy group – the Center for Reproductive Rights – had challenged the White House “to stop letting politics trump science,” and accused the agency of allowing “unprecedented interference” with the FDA’s operations.

The organization’s accusations were in response to a move by US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to overrule the FDA’s decision to make so-called Plan B contraceptives available over-the-counter to girls 16 and under.

The advocacy group charged that the FDA’s restrictive policies were instituted only after Sebelius personally intervened in the drug agency’s regulatory process for purely partisan reasons.

The group today said they were pleased with the judge’s decision.

“Today science has finally prevailed over politics,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO for the Center for Reproductive Rights.

“This landmark court decision has struck a huge blow to the deep-seated discrimination that has for too long denied women access to a full range of safe and effective birth control methods,” Northrup said.

“It’s a true victory for all women, especially young women, women without government-issued identification, and those who live in areas with limited pharmacy hours,” she said.

The group filed suit in 2005 to force the FDA to allow younger women and girls access to Plan B, which has been available without a prescription to women 17 and over.

Critics have argued that Sebelius’ actions were intended to avert a bruising political battle over parental control and contraception during the last presidential election season.